Riverside Square open for now

The building owner admits fire alarm system does have glitches.

By TIM YOVICH

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — A Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge has issued an order so that Riverside Square, the former St. Joseph Hospital, can remain open, at least temporarily.

The city’s building inspection department ordered the 280,000-square-foot building, on Tod Avenue on the city’s west end, to be closed Tuesday.

Building owner PKAM LLC sought a temporary restraining order Wednesday afternoon that, if granted, would have allowed the building with its 11 tenants to remain open.

Rather, Judge W. Wyatt McKay issued an order to keep the building open while the safety issues are resolved.

David Daugherty, assistant city law director, said the state fire code requires that a certified firefighter be in the building around the clock all year.

That’s because there are people in the building all the time, he explained.

Thomas Dobson, PKAM president, said he has been using noncertified firefighters to walk the fire watch. He said he would have to pay $20 an hour for a certified firefighter.

The firefighters don’t have to be a member of the Warren Fire Department.

Daugherty said fire Chief Kenneth Nussle will negotiate with Dobson for the hourly wage if city firefighters are used.

While the temporary stay is in place, the two sides will work to establish a timetable to have a new alarm system completed.

Dobson, of Warren, said he has been given until January 2009 by the city to have the work completed. Daugherty said Johnson Control Inc., which is doing the installation, has said the work could be completed by Jan. 15, 2008.

Christopher Taneyhill, the city’s building official, issued the vacation order that was upheld by the city’s Board of Building Appeals and the Ohio Board of Building Appeals. Atty. Gilbert Rucker III, who represents Dobson, criticized Taneyhill for his handing of the issues.

“Taneyhill doesn’t have the disposition to work hand-in-hand with businessmen,” Rucker commented.

Dobson said the building has a working fire alarm system, but “from time to time, it has glitches.”

The new system is connected to three of 11 building tenants, the owner said.

Dobson explained that his tenants have 173 employees and 600 people enter the building daily, including the Academy of Arts and Sciences with its 140 pupils.

The school was closed Wednesday as a precaution, Dobson said. It was also closed today.

The $1.5 million new Veterans Administration clinic will open Monday, he added.

yovich@vindy.com